£38 million bid to develop lighter cars

The £1.7 million project plans to make vehicles lighter and more fuel efficient.

A composite research project has won a share of a £38.2 million government prize to develop light weighting technology for automotive.

The £1.7 million project is run by a consortium led by Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan to develop ways of manufacturing composite materials making vehicles lighter and more fuel efficient. International manufacturers currently pay a premium for light-weight materials, such as carbon fiber found in Formula 1 cars, and investment could support the mass production of an emerging technology that can boost British-made exports across the globe.

‘Our £38 million investment will help Britain become a world leader in this exciting and valuable technology sector, creating skilled jobs of the future as part of our long-term economic plan,’ claimed UK transport minister Andrew Jones. ‘It will also mean lower running costs for motorists and less fuel consumption, which is good for the environment and our economy.’

The funding combines £30 million from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) with £8.2 million of additional funding from Innovate UK, who will support the schemes. The aim is to begin unveiling working prototypes by 2018 and passenger cars from 2020.

This story uses material from the UK Department for Transport, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.

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